MacDonald Scholars Program Helps a New Generation of Servant Leaders

 

 

At the May 11, 2017 meeting Scott MacDonald spoke about MacDonald Scholars, a scholarship program he founded to help reduce the financial burden that most college students face. Scott is a graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington, and as a student he worked in a factory to pay his way through school. He realized that the costs of college can no longer be easily offset by working, and he grew concerned about the debt many students incur as they pursue higher education. 

 

In response to these challenges, in 2005 Scott founded MacDonald Scholars, a “pay-it-forward” scholarship vehicle, first at Davidson College, from which his two sons graduated.  He then launched similar programs at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, IU Bloomington, the University of Michigan, and, most recently, at University of San Diego.  The idea behind the scholarship is to promote a mindset similar to that of Rotary: “Service above Self”.  MacDonald Scholars, who are identified by the participating university, are given $5,000/year for four years that can be used to defray tuition or living expenses.  In exchange, Scholars participate in leadership and educational programs available at their university and perform 280 hours of community service annually. 

 

Scott outlined several service programs that his MacDonald Scholars developed.  One Scholar raised funds to build and sustain schools in rural Ethiopia, while another instituted a program to provide solar lighting for houses in India so that the children would have light to study by at night. Still another Scholar founded “Hives for Lives” that donated proceeds from honey sales to cancer research. 

 

During his career, Scott was CEO of several companies. He wrote the book “Saving Investa”, which tells the story of how, as a Morgan Stanley executive, a one week trip to Sydney turned into a 5-year journey to guide Investa from near insolvency to being one of the largest commercial real estate companies in Australia.  He uses proceeds from book sales to support MacDonald Scholars. 

 

Scott is hopeful that other donors will be inspired by his experience to fund similar programs at other universities that can be used to train the next generation of servant leaders.  Visit the MacDonald Scholars page to learn how.